Manuscript collections are defined by the Society of American Archivists as a collection of personal or family papers. Although manuscript literally means handwritten, 'manuscript collection' is often used to include collections of mixed media in which unpublished materials predominate. They may also include typescripts, photographs, diaries, scrapbooks, news clippings, and printed works.[1] A manuscript collection could be as small as one box and as large as 200 boxes or larger. The majority of manuscript collections are materials donated by individuals or organizations.
Manuscript collections in Canada and Europe
Manuscript collections are referred to as fonds collections in many parts of Canada and Europe. When researching in Canada or European countries, genealogists should look for “fonds collections” rather than manuscript collections.[2]
Finding manuscript collections
Very few manuscript collections can be found digitized and online. Usually the best you can do is to locate the finding aid to the manuscript collections online or an index of the finding aids that a repository holds. You can access websites such as ArchiveGrid, Internet Archive, and the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) that archives contribute their manuscript collections indexes and finding aids to help you locate the records and repositories they are located.
Manuscript collections are found in archived collections, library collections, historical society collections, genealogical society collections and university collections. You will have to contact the repository by phone or email or you will have to visit the repository to find out what they have if it’s not online.
It is possible that the repository has an index of what is contained in their manuscript collections. An entry in the index would look something like: “John Smith Papers 1700-1774”. Finding aids are so important because many of the titles are not very specific.
Finding aids
The Society of Tennessee Archivists Glossary of Terms defines a finding aid as a description that typically consists of contextual and structural information about an archival resource.[3] The finding aid is a document produced by an archivist while they are processing a manuscript collection that contains information about the collection as well as a box-by-box, folder-by-folder listing of what is contained in the collection.
Parts of a finding aid
The parts of a finding aid are pretty standard, however, many archives will change the titles of each section or add sections or delete sections. Typically, these are the parts of a finding aid:
Title page
The beginning of the finding aid includes the name of the archival repository, the title of the archival collection, finding aid creation information, and a date range for the materials in the archive.
Summary information
This section lists the creator of the materials in the archive, the size and extent of the collection and a brief description of the collection contents.
Access and use
If there are any restrictions placed on a collection, they will be noted here. Other information could include how the archives received the collection, and copyright and citation information.
Background information
This section details the history or biographical information relating to the collection and how it was created.
Scope, content, and arrangement
This part provides an overview of the types of materials in the collection and how they have been arranged.
Related materials
This part points the researcher to other items in the archives or elsewhere that are closely related to the collection described in the finding aid.
Contents listing
Sometimes also called “container contents”. This is a box-by-box, folder-by-folder listing of the materials stored in the collection. The amount of detail in this part may vary depending on the collection and individual repository practices.
Resources for manuscript collections
The Society of American Archivists has a sample finding aid on their website to read and study.
Manuscript collections can be found in almost every archive across the United States, and fonds collections can be found in almost every archive across Canada and many countries in Europe. These collections are a must for any genealogist striving to complete a reasonably exhaustive research.
Explore more about manuscript collections
- Loose Records: A Treasure Trove for Genealogists by Melissa Barker on MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Breathing new life into your boring ancestors (Facebook Live) on MyHeritage Facebook page
- Superb Seven: Fabulous Avenues for Finding Family in Manuscript Collections on Legacy Family Tree Webinars